Fabric Covered Roller Shades - Finally

Monday, May 16, 2011

When I started this little project, my hopes were to add a touch of color to the windows over the kitchen sink while allowing the natural light to continue to flow through. My other goal was to spend as little money as possible. So far so good.

Before I show you the after, let's have one more look at the before.

Now the after...

This was such an easy project! The shades were cut to size at my local hardware store and I literally glued the fabric to the shades.

First I spread the fabric out face down and rolled the shade just beyond the desired length. Then I trimmed the fabric about 1/2" wider and 1" longer than the shade. **Note the shade is actually longer than I needed so I only covered the length that would show if the shade was closed on the window.

When the time came to glue the fabric to the shade, I could not locate the fabric glue so I used a glue gun loaded with fabric glue sticks instead.

I worked my way around the sides until the fabric was attached on all sides.

My shades have to be rolled up manually and no longer have the pull release feature that sometimes works - sometimes doesn't with roller shades. This is OK with me though because they will never be pulled down.

***Correction***

When I tried to roll the blinds up and down previously, I had not correctly installed the brackets. They do officially work. Sorry for the confusion.

Did you notice any others changes? To keep this post from being too long, I will share them tomorrow.

****Revised to say***

Read comments below. Fabric that is too heavy may not work for this project.

108 comments:

Love those Rene. I love your bay window in front of your sink. It looks like you have done something to the right of the sink like maybe removed cabinet doors since that is what the drawing looked like and beadboard backsplash added?

that looks beautiful! love the idea of using fabric glue sticks which i didn't even know existed!!! wow!!! i am going to try this in my half bath this summer. thanks for the idea.and your elephant will head home tomorrow... i have been crazy busy getting ready for lucketts this weekend, but i have an hour tomorrow to get it done!

Rene, you are going to laugh at me. I thought you specially ordered the shades. I had no idea you were just gluing fabric onto shades. I'm such a goof. lol. How easy is that? I was thinking a nice fabric shade would look great in my son's room since he keeps breaking the blinds and he needs his room dark all the time due to video games. You are a my biggest inspiration. Now to find the time to do things between school and the kids.

your shades look awesome! that is just the perfect fabric choice, too!

remember in the highlights magazines they would give you two pictures and you had to find things that had changed? well I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to see what else you'd done so... (1) you hung a new dish towel (2) you added the beadboard to the right side! (3) you moved the handsoap haha

They look beautiful! Love the pop of color it gives your kitchen windows. And what a great way to spruce up some roller shades. It's already got me thinking of doing the same thing to the ones in our bedroom, so thanks!

Wow, I love these Rene. The fabric you chose is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the tutorial, they look easy enough. I think I can tackle them. I need to add a punch of color to my kitchen windows too.

hi rene! playing catch up on your blog. these shades turned out so fresh & pretty. what a sweet fabric!! i also love your new pillow fabrics for the living room!!! i am all over green and blue lately so those are right up my alley. aren't you loving pinterest? i think it might replace a little of my blogging. so easy & addictive!! Hope you are well!!

That is cute Rene! However, I'm sorta surprised that the shades aren't functional. Seems like a good bit of waste on fabric/money if they can't go up/down. Wouldn't a simple faux roman blind or other valance done the trick and used less fabric/money?

Does that mean thatonce you've addedthe fabric, the shadecan only be stationery?I'd like to do this in my daughter's room,but room darkening shadesthat CAN be pulled downare a must. Love howsimple this was andcrossing my fingersthat it can be pulledup and down....xx Suzanne

Wendy, it's a wash. My total cost was less than $30 and I am happy with the result. I considered faux roman shades, but decided to go this route. Valances were never a consideration. It was much easier and quicker than the faux roman shades I have made in the past.

Suzanne, I have made the correction that the shades do roll up & down. I honestly had not tried to roll them up & down since moving the brackets. I suppose the location of the brackets is what prevented this before. Sorry for the confusion. In my previous post, http://cottageandvine.blogspot.com/2011/05/roller-shades-some-lovely-funny.html two other bloggers did this same project and the links are there if anyone would like to contact them.

These are beautiful, Rene and I think that was the perfect choice of fabric. It really suits your kitchen! You did a fabulous job. What a gorgeousl view you have for washing dishes! I love all of the greenery and aren't bay windows wonderful for bringing the outdoors in?

OMG, how much do you love these in your house! They make a huge difference. The color is amazing. Oh, and how easy were they! Totally doing this at some point, somewhere in my house. And hey, I think the hot glue gun with fabric glue sticks is even better than the fabric glue bottle. May have to do that from now on too. Thanks!!

I found a link to this post on homepodge and just wanted to thank you for sharing... it's such a simple project and your roller shades are so cute! I will be sharing this post with my sister. She will LOVE it!

Ive been thinking of doing something like this in our bedroom, only the opposite way. It gets really really hot in there during summer, so i thought id sew a lightcoloured, heavy fabric to the outside of our black sunblocking roller shades, to reflect the sun but still make it dark in the room. Using glue is probably a better idea than sewing, but do you have any hints whether my idea might work at all, or will it just be too thick with two layers?thank you, i just found a new great blog to follow!

CecilB, your idea will most likely work. Here is another idea that I would like to try: http://houseandhome.com/tv/segment/diy-wallpaper-blindWallpaper might be thinner than fabric. Just a thought. I hope this helps.

Just came across this and thinks it's an awesome idea. All of our bedrooms have room darking rollers, however ours are all custom sizes not cheap, my question was, that if you ever wanted to replace it you'd have to replace the whole roller again right? I'm just wondering if we ever switch bedding or kids' rooms that we'd have to spend money again on the whole thing and 2 of my rooms have 3 each. Any suggestions?

Jacey, my first thought is that you would have to replace the whole shade if you wanted to change the fabric. However, it might be possible that you could use an adhesive that would peel and release? I would definitely test an area before diving in. Good luck!

I just followed your tutorial for my kitchen window and it looks amazing. Problem is the fabric made the shade too heavy to roll up. It's okay because I didn't really want to pull them down anyways, wanted more of a valance look. When I do the other windows in the house I will be sure to buy the heavy duty shade so the spring is stronger. Thanks!

Greetings! Just wanted to say I found this tutorial on Pinterest and I loved it. I actually shared your tutorial on my website at http://anexerciseinfrugality.com/?p=7#more-7. The website focuses on all things frugal, and I have a daily feature called the Frugal Pin of the Day, which is where your tutorial was shared. I added your button to my blogroll as well because I enjoy sharing fun frugal DIY sites with my readers. Thanks for the tutorial and keep up the awesome work!

I LOVE THIS! I've been looking for an easy and much more decorative than mini blinds... I looked into roman shadesbut they seemed like they would be overly costly by the time I was finished and I do not like the way they mount up...This offers an better alternative, I saw javascript:void(0)where you did not take the fabric all the way to the top did you glue the seam there (top front) as well or did u just do the bottom and 2 sides?

Great idea and so inexpensive. I did something similar but what I used was a spray fabric adhesive. It adheres the whole fabric to the shade so you don't get bumps and ripples. I sprayed the fabric and then positioned the shade over the fabric,then smoothed it as I pressed it down. After the fabric was adhered to the front, I folded the edges. As a fun extra touch, I glued on decorator trim with tassels on the bottom edge! Super cute.

I've been wanting to start this project for a couple months now but have been too nervous to start. I'm worried that the fabric won't sit nice and flat and that there will be wrinkles and ripples. In your opinion, what will give me better results, spray adhesive on the whole front of the shade or just gluing the edges to the back as seen here?

This is amazing. I have been looking for a cheap fix for over my kitchen window. I found a few projects but this is the simplist fix I have come across. Thank you for sharing. I will be doing this next weekend and posting my results on my blog (http://justinawho.blogspot.com/) and will link your blog to it. Thank you for sharing!

I have saved this tutorial, and looked at it over and over again I love it so much :) I'd like to use my left over couch fabric to tie in the colors from one end of the house to the other. I wish to use the lighter weight upholstery fabric for some shades that would cover just the bottom portion of my windows.I would hang the shades halfway down my window so I could have privacy on the bottom half of the window but let light in through the top half of the window. My question is, if my intention is to keep the shades drawn could the upholstery fabric work?

I've been working on this project for the past two nights and found this article incredibly helpful. I'm worried that the fabric won't sit nice and flat and that there will be wrinkles and ripples. In your opinion, what will give me better results, spray adhesive on the whole front of the shade or just gluing the edges to the back as seen here?

Hi Rene, I was just wondering how these have held up after 2 years- Are they still functional and just as beautiful? I want to make these for my kitchen windows and I am wondering if it still holds up after a few years. Thank you.

I really like the shades! I have the same bay window in my kitchen. I have a question, is it all painted? Mine was an add on and is currently unfinished. What can I do to the sill where your plant is sitting? There is a little water damage I can sand out but I don't know what else to do.

I love love this idea! Our window, however, is 70" wide. I wonder if I could find a roller shade wide enough, and whether it would work as well with such a large piece of fabric. My other hope is to install brackets at two heights, so I can move it from half-height to full height according to our privacy needs (sort of like a top-down shade). But I would need to modify the brackets such that moving the shade from the upper to lower rungs would be easy. Perhaps put nice looking hooks for a rod at both heights, and then somehow alter the ends of the roller shade to rest in the hooks easily...some sort of clean-looking plug capping each end that protrudes enough to rest in the hooks? Have you seen something like this ever?

Love this! Just another one of those projects I've seen and loved. This is the best looking ones I've seen though and the tutorial was great! I'm definitely going to be doing this for my bathroom!Leelee @ paperbagstyling

Hi, I would love to try this project for my craftroom. I have a roller blind, but the hardware does not allow me to use the blind in reverse - it falls out of the hardware. What did you use for the brackets to hold your blind up when you turned it around? Thank you, Carol

I am searching for a green fabric with a gardenish feel/motive. Most greens I found where chevron, or had more than two colors, making them too busy for my project. By anychance do you know the name and maker of your print?Beautiful, gorgeous window! Congratulations!Maria